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Our faces go white when we scan the inside of the beat-up eight-seater plane. Its propellers protest loudly as the young pilot makes himself comfortable in the miniscule cockpit which carries a dusty manual entitled, How to operate a plane.

It appears that we are flying to the ends of the earth. Once we arrive on the secluded Bahamian island of Andros, it is confirmed that we indeed have entered the outer edges of tourist civilization. The tiny Andros airport, complete with two employees and an entrance door that leads to the exit door, does not offer lounge drinks, tour options or rides to lavish five-star hotels. That's because there aren't any of these things on Andros.

We are destined for Small Hope Bay Lodge, one of just a handful of private tourist lodges and resorts on the largest and least developed of the 700 islands of the Bahamas.

Small Hope is as rustic and rural a resort as you'll find in the Bahamas. There are no swans formed out of your bathroom towels, no coconut daiquiris on demand and certainly no water slides for the kids. But what the all-inclusive lodge offers in spades is a true taste of the islands and Bahamian culture. Here, one cannot be called a tourist, you have entered the domain of the traveller.

As my 11-year-old son and I scan the breathtaking marine-blue ocean before us, and observe the main lodge and guest cabins perched on its shores, it's like we have arrived for our first day of summer camp. These campers, however, are adult sized with lifetimes of adult-inspired adventures that make for the most tantalizing dinner conversations. With local staff cooking up divine Bahamian fare like conch fritters, corn beef and grits and breaded grouper, Small Hope offers a genuine experience that no touristy dolphin swim can.

Diving in the third largest reef in the world and feeding Small Hope's famous 'chumsicles' (frozen fish food on a stick) to ravenous sharks is the main attraction for many of the lodge's guests. However, Andros offers many 'on-shore' adventures that are equally as entertaining.

Our day-long adventure with a Small Hope chef and three Canadian travellers takes us to a secluded cove near Nichols Town at the northern-most tip of this 160-km-long and 64-km-wide island. Here we set up camp on the ocean shore, play in the sand as the tide recedes and get to know the culture from a true Bahamian.

Along the way we visit Morgan's bluffs, which provides a breathtaking view of the powerful waves of the Atlantic Ocean. Uncle Charlie's blue hole (a fresh water-filled cave system reputedly first explored by Jacques Cousteau) and Captain Morgan's caves (where the infamous pirate is rumoured to have hid out) are fascinating. However, the chance to see the real Bahamian countryside via car, complete with stops at quaint corner stores, walks on pristine empty beaches and visits with the friendly and humble people who call Andros home, is the stuff of which an authentic vacation experience is made. This is a place where you come to be a traveler, not a tourist.

The Exumas ...

Our next island adventure promises to be radically different, right from the get-go. Another eight-seater plane picks us up; however, its leather seats, Florida pilot and well-heeled passengers foretell of a vastly different experience.

Our first encounter of the trip to the Staniel Cay Yacht Club comes in the form of an invitation to the club's 'Casino Royale' evening -- an annual event inspired by the fact that a James Bond movie (Thunderball, 1965), was filmed on this tiny Bahamian island. Our first evening on one of the Exumas's 360 small islands features tuxedoed Americans, blond-haired James Bond girls and dance music wafting out over the ocean until the wee hours of the morning.

And just when we think that life at Staniel Cay couldn't possibly be this intriguing all of the time, the multi-million-dollar yachts begin to pull in and adventurers from around the world spill out. The interactions at the club's modest bar/restaurant are fascinating, whether they be with the Spanish sailor who has navigated his yacht half-way around the world, or the Bahamian captain who waits dock-side for a job guiding foreign yachts through local waters, or the Florida couple who sold all their belongings to live in their sailboat.

Each day plays out this way, with sail boats, yachts and speed boats taking to the pristine Caribbean sea for the day and returning at supper time with fantastic catches of snapper, lobster and grouper. We experience the captivating scene from the top balcony of our colourful two-storey cottage that is perched on stilts right above the clear Caribbean waters. Each evening we marvel at the stingrays and nurse sharks that begin to circle right below our cottage in anticipation of the fish filleting that provides their daily meal.

We venture down to where the action is, with my son bravely standing ankle-deep in the ocean as the rays and sharks roil within a foot or two of his feet.

"My dad wanted to offer an experience that wasn't the norm and that took advantage of this amazing setting, so he supplied every cottage with a whaler (boat) and snorkel gear that allowed people to experience the ocean first-hand," says Staniel Cay Yacht Club owner David Hocher, the son of Florida businessman Joe Hocher, who established the Yacht Club in the 1950s.

The tale of the Hochers could be a script for any James Bond movie, with the senior Hocher building up the yacht club with his business partner throughout the '60s and '70s, followed by a partner falling-out and legal battle in the 1980s. In 2003, with Joe's son David now involved in the yacht club business, Joe disappears.

"He got up early one morning and got in his plane," says the 30-something David, explaining that his dad was a pilot and it was not uncommon for him to take solo flights. "We never heard from him again."

David, who resides largely in Florida and runs the Hocher water purification business, has made it his mission to turn the Staniel Cay Yacht Club into a full-service resort destination that still maintains its rustic charm and Caribbean feel.

He has succeeded as the club feels like your average small-town bar. With only 80 residents living on Staniel Cay, everyone knows everyone. And with few cars (everyone travels by golf cart), the island has only one road sign that reads, 'This Way' for one direction, and 'That Way' for the other. Our golf cart adventure, complete with a picnic lunch packed by the yacht club kitchen, takes us around the entire six-kilometre island in an afternoon. It also takes us to white-sand beaches that take away our breaths and instantly transport us to the cover of a travel magazine. Here, we are not tourists. On this lone beach, with the actual set of a James Bond movie in the distance and Staniel Cay Yacht Club owner David Hocher as the main character, we are 'travellers'.

Paradise Island ...

But if you want to be a tourist in the Bahamas, complete with cocktails by the pool, an outrageous $1-billion water park at your disposal and a live version of 'Kokomo' being performed in the distance, the indulgent Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island is the place to be.

This 140-acre tourist's playground features an 11-million gallon aquarium stocked with 50,000 sea creatures, a glass waterslide that takes you right through a shark tank and a 30,000-square-foot spa. Don't forget the dolphin swim attraction, the 20 restaurants that serve everything from sushi to burgers; and the 17 swimming pools sprinkled throughout the property.

If being entertained within the comforts of a North American cultural experience is what you're after, complete with towels folded to resemble seashells, a Starbuck's for your morning coffee and a Baskin Robins for your evening ice cream fix, then the Atlantis should be on your list. But set aside $500 to $1,500 a night for a room, or perhaps even $25,000 a night if you'd like to stay in the opulent Bridge Suite that has hosted celebrities such as Michael Jackson, Oprah Winfrey and Celine Dion.

If you want to be a tourist, book a room at the Atlantis, one of the world's most decadent hotels. But if you want to be a traveller, hop aboard an eight-seater plane and head to the 'Out Islands' of the Bahamas.

Go opulent or off track in Bahamas

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